# Cell Phone Rudeness Question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2000, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-rudeness-question/28037 "2000-08-03T20:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-rudeness-question/28037/41 "2000-08-26T04:18:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Some New York City restaurants have taken this to the extreme: They ban cell phone use. Since I can’t understand why this is, I refuse to eat at such places. And we thank you for that. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-rudeness-question/28037/42 "2000-08-26T06:51:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cornflakes \* > \*\*And Bill H., I’m not jealous. I’ve got a cheaper, safer and less offensive way to talk in public. They’re called public phones. For thirty-five cents or less, I can make any call I need to make; it’s cheaper than any plan I could possibly find, and I stay in touch with the people I’m with. \*\* As a recent (three days ago) convert to a cell phone, let me compare it to a public phone. Cell phone service costs me $30 a month. My cell phone is my only phone, due to Verizon (Bell Atlantic) having been on strike when I moved into my apartment. With a cell phone, people can actually reach me as well, I can see who’s calling before answering, I can make calls from my apartment, I can recieve voice mail, as well as a host of other features. Altogether I get 180 minutes a month (with no extra charges for long distance) on this plan. While I could save money by somehow arranging to be at a pay phone for every call I want to make, talking in public is not, in and of itself, the only point to having a cell phone. Granted, many of the people I know, and most likely myself soon, occasionally engage in completely gratuitious cell phone use, such as calling someone after losing them somewhere in Best Buys. But I go to an engineering school, and that sort of thing is to be expected. As for the issue of rudeness, I think that it’s stupid to take offense to behaviour that does not affect you. Anywhere where it would be acceptable to have a conversation should remain that way, regardless of whether both participants are present. Since talking on a cell phone is actually having a conversation, I see this as a far better analogy than smoking, which is completely unnacceptable in many of the places where conversing is de rigeur. ---
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-rudeness-question/28037/43 "2000-08-26T16:19:12Z")
I’m still waiting for someone to give me a legitimate reason for being annoyed by cell phone conversations, other than the fact that some people talk loudly. I agree with waterj2: it’s stupid to take offense to behaviour that does not affect you. I can understand banning smoking in restaurants, as that tangibly affects people. But if I’m having a conversation with someone, the fact that they’re somewhere else and not sitting at the table with me should be irrelevant to someone observing me. Also, I can think of dozens of things that people do at restaurants that are more annoying than cell phone conversations. Hey, let’s ban eating with one’s fingers. Or maybe excessive throat-clearing. While we’re at it, we can ban small children that scream at the top of their lungs during meals. Come on people. This is a personal decision. [Edited by manhattan on 08-26-2000 at 11:54 AM] ---
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-rudeness-question/28037/44 "2000-08-26T16:21:38Z")
Sorry for the vB code screwup. I didn’t intend to underline the whole post. Can a moderator hook a brother up? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-rudeness-question/28037/45 "2000-08-26T17:02:02Z")
Feh. I’ve left this thread in GQ for too long already. Off to IMHO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-rudeness-question/28037.md?page=2)